The English Civil war began as a conflict over church governance in Scotland and ended with the judicial execution of a monarch and the attempt of establishing a republic more than a hundred years before the French Revolution. The war went through several phases and moved through the British Isles, devastating the Three Kingdoms. In the case of Ireland, where ethnic cleansing and dispossession were enforced with utmost brutality, it caused political divisions and hatreds that have survived into the present. Apart from giving an overview of the (convoluted) events, the seminar will examine how the historiography of the War has changed in recent decades and provide insights into the cultural, social, religious, military and gender history of seventeenth century Britain and Europe. The reading and classroom discussion will be entirely in English, and special care will be taken to enable non-native speakers of different competency levels to participate actively.
- Lehrende/r: Nikolas Maximilian Funke